David Bell (academic)

Sir David Robert Bell KCB (Born March 1959, Glasgow^[1]) is Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading.^[2] He was previously Permanent Secretary at the British Department for Education^[3] from 3 January 2006 and before that he was Chief Inspector of Schools at the Office for Standards in Education. He had previously been Permanent Secretary at its predecessor departments, the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department for Education and Skills.

Bell studied history and philosophy at Glasgow University and obtained his PGCE from Jordanhill College of Education. He also has a Master of Education degree in management and administration from Glasgow University. Bell then held teaching posts at primary schools in Glasgow, moving on to become a deputy head, and then a headteacher at Kingston Primary School, in Thundersley, Essex. In 1990 he became assistant director of education at Newcastle City Council. During this time he spent a year as a Harkness Fellow at Georgia State University, Atlanta, studying education and local government reform across the United States of America. Bell trained as an Ofsted team inspector in 1993. He became a Registered Inspector in 1994 and carried out inspections in primary schools. He was promoted to director of education and libraries at Newcastle City Council in 1995 and became chief executive of Bedfordshire County Council in 2000. Mr Bell took up his post as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector on 1 May 2002.^[4] He was Chief Inspector for over three years and, in January 2006, he became Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education and Skills before becoming the first Permanent Secretary at the Department for Children, Schools and Families in June 2007 and its successor, the Department for Education in May 2010.^[3]

He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2011 Birthday Honours.^[5]

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